State park closures forecast if 35% budget cuts materialize

More state parks or historic sites would have to be closed if lawmakers cut state financing by 35 percent next year, park officials said Friday.

View full sizeEliot Kamenitz, The Times-Picayune archiveState Parks Director Stuart Johnson is negotiating with BP officials for payment for use of Fort Pike in eastern New Orleans, which has been used as a staging area by the oil company during the oil spill response. It was photographed June 16.

Dianne Mouton-Allen, deputy assistant secretary of the Office of State Parks in the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, said she could not be more specific, but a reduction of that size would definitely have an impact.

She told the State Parks and Recreation Commission that Lt. Gov. Scott Angelle, who oversees the recreation and tourism agency, and State Parks Director Stuart Johnson are trying to find ways to reopen some of the facilities that have been closed by coaxing local governments and private-sector sponsors to help finance operations.

Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater, Gov. Bobby Jindal's chief fiscal adviser, has asked all state agencies to look at the effects a 35 percent reduction in state dollars would have on their operations. The administration is a long way from assembling the budget or making cuts for the fiscal year that begins July 1, but the state will have to make some reductions because it is faced with a revenue shortfall of about $1.6 billion in the next budget year.

Mouton-Allen told the board that the agency should be able to open Forts Randolph and Buhlow near Pineville next month because the Red River Waterway Commission is providing the funds to operate the site five days a week. The state has been trying to open the sites for months.

Johnson is still negotiating with BP officials for payment for use of Fort Pike in eastern New Orleans. It has been closed to the public for months and has been used as a staging area by the oil company during the oil spill. State parks officials estimate BP owes the state about $67,500 for using the facility from May 2 to Sept. 13.

Mouton-Allen said Johnson is talking to Iberville Parish officials about reopening the historic Plaquemine Lock five days a week. She said that the Centenary State Historic Site in Jackson will remain closed because there has not been enough money raised in the public or private sector to help get it open five days a week.

Fort Jessup State Historic Site near Many will reopen next month with the financial support of the town and the Sabine River Authority and parish tourism officials who have committed funds to reopen it five days a week.

She said "little progress" has been made to find businesses or governmental partners to re-open Native American mounds at the Marksville State Historic Site in Avoyelles Parish so it will remain closed.

Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle, a member of the commission, said if the budget cuts are deep, the state parks office may want to consider staging a fundraiser. He suggested a concert like the one Grand Isle hosted in July for fishers out of work from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

He said the Island Aid concert brought in about $600,000 in ticket sales and sponsorships. He said a second concert probably will be held next year, either in conjunction with the annual Grand Island Tarpon Rodeo or on a separate date.

Mouton-Allen said the idea has merit and would pursue it with staff attorneys to see whether it can be done, with the revenues flowing directly to the state parks.

She also said that Palmetto Island State Park near Abbeville is tentatively scheduled to open in November but only for three months. With the budget crunch, Mouton-Allen said, Angelle and Johnson are in discussions with "potential donors at the Community Foundation of Acadiana in Lafayette" to get additional dollars lined up.

One bit of good news the commission received was the opening of the $15 million, 1,800-acre Bogue Chitto State Park near Franklinton Aug. 28. Charlie Gauthier, a facility project manager for state parks, said that 3,000 people attended the opening day events and another 3,000 jammed the park on Labor Day,

Weekends at the park's cabins and lodge, he said, "are booked solid for the next 11 months."